How this surgery center transitioned to electronic health records with the Plustek MobileOffice AD450

Check out this case study and learn how Plustek scanners helped this pediatric dental center to go paperless.

Hapy Bear Surgery Center is a pediatric sedation dental office that provides general anesthesia to dental patients referred to them by over 200 dental offices.  In 2010 they moved into a brand new, state-of-the-art surgery center that provides a spacious, comfortable, kid-friendly environment.

Pediatric sedation dentistry in a surgery center requires more paperwork than a normal dental office because treatment is both dental and medical. To combat this organizational issue, Jeremy Pierson, chief information officer, started researching ways to better handle the paperwork and become compliant with Electronic Health Records (EHR) requirements stipulated in the Affordable Care Act.  

After research, he decided to purchase four Plustek MobileOffice AD450 scanners. One of the primary deciding factors was the small footprint since there was limited space at the front desk and in the consultation and exam rooms. Here’s how the adoption went over:

The Hapy Bear facility now has 100 percent electronic patient records. While most dental/medical offices require rooms of shelving for paper files, they do not.

Before each procedure at Hapy Bear, pediatric patients and their parents are taken to a consultation room where they speak with the dentist and anesthesiologist, ask questions about the procedure, and complete and sign necessary paperwork. Since a signed copy of all the paperwork must be sent home with the patient/parent, a staff member used to have to run to the photocopier to make a copy for the parent.  This wasted time was very cumbersome, and not very professional. 

Now, with small scanners in each room, identification cards, medical insurance cards, and all paperwork are instantaneously scanned into Hapy Bear's computer system and handed directly back to the parent.

Plustek’s TWAIN driver was another major selling point for the MobileOffice AD450.  The primary computer program than Hapy Bear uses is Dentrix and it required a TWAIN scanner to interface directly into its Document Center.  It only requires one click on the computer screen for the entire scanning process to complete eliminating the need for extensive staff training.

“Using the little Plustek scanners has solved several problems for us, including our space issues. We needed a small unit that could fit on a desk and be unobtrusive,” said Pierson. “Quick and simple scanning has also helped us significantly streamline our patient flow, helped us to become fully compliant with EHR requirements, and helps us project the image of the state-of-the-art, top of the line facility that we are.”

Becoming fully EHR compliant was an important step for Hapy Bear Surgery Center. They became eligible for the Medicare and Medicaid Electronic Health Record Incentive Program providing $21,500 per doctor to help cover the costs of converting to the EHR system.

They will also be eligible to receive $8,500 per doctor each year for the next five years as they show meaningful use of their EHR system. The Plustek scanners form an integral part of that system.